RACE 6 DAY 1: Tough Upwind Conditions Test The Fleet

After a testing first 24 hours beating upwind in Race 6: The Wondrous
Whitsundays Race, the Clipper Race fleet remains close together with just over
one nautical mile (nm) being the difference between the first four boats on the
leaderboard and less than 30nm separating all eleven teams.

Australian Skipper of Sanya
Serenity Coast, Wendy Tuck, is just in the lead at the moment and reports
that: “It’s been a tough first 24 hours of bashing away into head winds - a little
bit what a Sydney to Hobart race is normally like.”

However, it is the upcoming tactical decisions that play on Wendy’s
mind today. She explains: “There is still tactical decisions to be made
regarding the weather and do you run for the Scoring Gate or not. It is quite a
way off the Rhumb Line - basically that’s the shortest line to your
destination.”

Close behind in second place is PSP Logistics and Skipper Matt Mitchell is preparing for a change
in the wind conditions: “We are expecting the onset of a front this evening
which will bring relatively strong headwinds so we have just been setting the
boat up for that. Once the front passes it should drag the wind around behind
us for a while which will give us a nice reprieve from the tippiness of the
last day or so.”

The only team to play its Joker Card on this race is Garmin and Skipper Gaëtan Thomas
completes the podium positions currently explaining that: “We are in close
contact with Sanya Serenity Coast for
a while and PSP Logistics, Visit Seattle, Dare To Lead and Liverpool
2018 are not far either.”

Dare To Lead,
currently in fourth, is further inshore and closer to the Rhumb Line with
Skipper Dale Smyth explaining that the crew are struggling a bit with the
conditions: “The last 24 hours has been pretty brutal to say the least. Hard
upwind conditions with everyone feeling pretty seasick. It is muggy and hot
below decks and wet above deck, so no respite. Spare a thought for us as you go
about your comfortable days.”

IMAGE: Fleet positions (correct at time of writing).

Liverpool 2018
and Visit Seattle make up fifth and
sixth position and both Skippers are also reporting a bit of seasickness
amongst their crew, which tends to set happen in the initial stages of an
upwind race. Liverpool 2018 Skipper,
Lance Shepherd says: “Life on board our little pink boat has been very bouncy
but the team is making the most of it as we head up the Tasmanian coast. Of
course, the usual struggles have come about with re-learning how to walk on your
side and how to hold the green monster at bay but so far so good.”

A close battle is developing between Qingdao and HotelPlanner.com
in seventh and eighth, with the latter’s Skipper, Conall Morrison, reporting: “We
are finding ourselves match racing Qingdao
these past twelve hours and have been tweaking the sail trim or shaking out
a reef as we watch the distance between us increase or decrease, or their speed
change on AIS.”

Furthest west, in ninth place, is Nasdaq and itscrew has been
busy with evolutions under the command of Skipper Rob Graham: “After more tacks
than anyone onboard Nasdaq cared to
count, we left the River Derwent and Storm Bay yesterday evening and have since
been beating up the Tasman Sea.

“Gradually reducing our sail plan as the wind has built,
through reefs and headsail changes - the evolutions have all gone smoothly: the
Nasdaq crew have learned so much and
are working very well as a team and in their watches, and we haven't had too
many appearances from the big green monster either.”

Making up the rest of the fleet is GREAT Britain in tenth and Unicef
in eleventh but the latter’s Skipper, Bob Beggs, remains optimistic: “Tactically
we have our work cut out. Being at the back means room for improvement! So, we
will be looking forward to lighter wind up ahead to slow the front runners and
hopefully compress the fleet.”

With the fleet anticipating a change in conditions,
Clipper Race Meteorologist Simon Rowell explains that: “The weather is quite
messy for the next couple of days. This front looks like it will stick at the
north end of Bass Strait, turning into an almost stationary trough.”

Keep up to date with how the conditions are affecting the
fleet by clicking on the Clipper Race Viewer
and hear more from the Skippers and crew on the Team Pages.